The blog will offer purely objective and candid analyses for a better understanding of the events that keep happening and that provide dynamism and direction to the flow of the history and development of the human societies. Being a forum, the comments and opinions from readers whether for or against the views expressed in it, are gratefully welcome. Suggestions for improving the blog are welcome.

Friday, December 26, 2014

The euphoria that erupted following the victory
of BJP in the recent Indian general elections and the appointment of Narendra
Modi as the Prime Minister of India seems to be abating. The defeat of BJP in
the Kashmir Valley elections is a potent indicator that BJP could suffer
similar setbacks in the time to come.

The monumental backlash that has been witnessed
from the Muslims and moderate Hindus alike on the move of forcibly converting
the Muslims and the Christians to Hinduism is yet another devastating stunnerthat can whip up a gigantic
upheaval to debase Modi and his party.

Narendra Modiis aHindu Nationalistand a member of theRashtriya Swayyamsevak
Sangh(RSS).Since his election, the right wing hard-line
groups Sangh Parivar(an umbrella of organizations), are aggressively
championing the conceptof Hindutva.

The Sangh Parivar comprises
organizations such as the Rashtriya Swayyamsevak Sangh
(RSS), Bharatiya Janata Party, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang
Daland others. These right wing extremistgroups have become overly
active and are openly calling for the transformation of India into a Hindu
nation state or Hindutva through conversions by force or enticements.

Modi remained the chief minister of Gujarat from October 2001 to
May 2014. He should be given credit for various far reaching reforms that
greatly streamlined the governance and markedly improved quality of life in
that state. However the Gujarat riots of 2002 has blemished Modi and his party
BJP for mass killings of the Muslims.

Despite India’s democratic and secular
credentials, patently, she has the image of a Hindu state. Lately, ajunior minister
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyotitold a public rally in New
Delhi that those who do not follow the Hindu god Ram were "bastards”.Ever since the ascension of
BJG to power, several conversions have taken place forcing the Christians and
the Muslims to Hinduism.

In the southern Indian
state of Kerala, 30 Christians were converted to Hinduism.In the northern state of
Uttar Pradesh, around 100 Muslims converted to Hinduism. This forcible
conversion of minority population continues by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Dal
and the members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or World Hindu Council.

India suffers from a host of endemic problems
that cannot be fixed so soon not even by Prime Minister Modi attributed to be
an economic maverick. The most outstanding of these problems are colossally
galloping population, high rate of corruption, poor and woefully inadequate and
ramshackle socio-civic infrastructure. The other bottlenecks hampering rapid or
sustained advancement of India are religious, racial and caste based deep and unbridgeable
prejudices and discords.

There are other grave issue that by any measure
cannot be fruitfully and expeditiously addressed by Modi in his term if office.
Some of these are inadequate education facilities, environmental degradation,
grinding poverty, woeful health conditions andthe burgeoning crimes like
rape, dowry deaths, and flurry of suicides, sexism and domestic
violence.

The main reason behind the
rampant poverty is the mushrooming population that of late stands at 1.27
billion. The pace of social and economic development remains far behind and out
of sync with the scale at which the population is growing. Some 456
million people live below the international poverty line. Around 236
million make less than a paltry amount of Rs. 20 per day.

According to available
statistics, the sanitation and public health are even worse in India than many
of the African countries. It is reported that barring 31% of population
utilizing reasonable sanitation facilities, the rest of the population,
more-often-than-not, defecates in public or in rivers. It has been further
estimated that every ten deaths in India is linked to the poor sanitation.

One of the odious curses in
Indiais the debt bondage mostly practiced in the agricultural areas.
The farmers take small loans from the rich cartels and individuals and keep
paying interest on the loans that even exceeds 100% of the loan per year.

The economy of India cannot
be adjudged as healthy or robust because India has one of the largest budget
deficits in the developing world. Excluding subsidies it amounts to nearly 8%
of its GDP.

India deems China as the
real contender or a matching rival or model for economic development. China is
now emerging as number one economy for its miraculous economic achievements
even beating United States. But India, by any stretch of imagination, cannot
reach even half way the economic miracle of China for very cogent reasons.

In China it is the one
party system and the decisions made cannot be challenged by rival political
parties. The decisions are implemented within the stipulated time. Moreover,
China doesn't have the level of corruption that one can see in
developing nations like India and Pakistan. The projects and plans are
completed in the given time frame under strict conditions of quality and
durability.

India is possessed by a
deep seated culture of corruption, poor infrastructure, paucity of funds;
abominable caste culture, bureaucratic tangles and political
bickering cannot attain the dizzying heights scaled by the Peoples’
Republic of China in economic, military social, health, education and other
domains of human and social development.

In India another most
daunting problem that keeps wrecking the atmosphere of internal social peace
for a rapid and sustained multi-dimensional progress and rapid uplift, are
scores of domestic insurgencies either for separation from the federation or
attainment of autonomy. There are roughly 30 to 40 insurgencies that pose a
constant threat to the unity of the federation of India. These cause human
casualties on both sides and there seems to be no let up in their anti India
activities.

The mighty Indian army
remains busy in combating these insurgencies posing dire challenges to the
territorial integrity of India at a huge cost of money and the hassle of
deployments. Let us take stock of the three main insurgencies and how
these are operating

For one, the Naxalite
Maoist insurgency apace now for decades has entrenched itself into the rural
terrain of Central Asia. In 2006 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called
the Naxalite insurgency as the "single biggest internal security challenge
ever faced by our country"There is no respite in the casualties between
the Indian army and the Naxalite rebels. The Naxalite operate in 60 districts
in India with epicenter in Chhattisgarh. It claims to be supported by the
poorest of the rural population.

“The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency gained
international media attention after the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha Valleyresulted in the deaths of
around 24 Indian National Congress leaders including the former
state minister Mahendra Karma and the Chhattisgarh Congress chief
Nand Kumar Patel”(Wikipedia)

In the part of Jammu and
Kashmir valley under her control, India has kept a large chunk of army for
decades now. The Indian controlled Kashmir erupts in periodic agitations and
protests marches for liberation and against the grave human right violations
perpetrated by the Indian security forces to suppress Kashmiris.

Reportedly, since 1989 in
Indian occupied Kashmir more than 68,000 Kashmiris have been killed, maimed and
disappeared. The Indian army also gets its portion of casualties at the hand of
the rebels. A non-binding United Nations Security Council47 adopted on April 21,
1948, callsfor a plebiscite to decide the fate of Kashmir
that India has been thwarting.

Similarly Sikhs may not
forget the 1984 massacre in Golden Temple and then another one after the murder
of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi the same year. The Sikh
separation movements such as Akali Dal may have gone dormant after
the huge crackdown that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi.
Nevertheless, the demand for Khalistan, a separate home land, for Sikhs is
still alive.

Besides the internal
insurgencies India has territorial disputes with all its neighbors i.e., China,
Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. These border disputes remain to be
settled between India and all her neighbors. Over the disputed territory of
Jammu and Kashmir, there have been three wars between India and Pakistan. Apart
from Kashmir, both India and Pakistan have contentious claims over Sir Creek, Siachen
Glacier and Kargil.

With China India fought a brief war in
1962. “The cause of the war was a dispute over thesovereigntyof the widely separatedAksai ChinandArunachal Pradeshborder regions. In February
this year, Modi warned China to drop its “territorial mindset” and said his
“country’s weakness had encouraged China’s army to enter Indian Territory last
year”.

The fundamental question is, that in the face of
these colossal internal and external issues threats, would it be possible for
Prime Minister Modi to move a magic wand and take India out of quagmire of
poverty, hunger, civic mess, poor quality of life and usher her into the fold
of developed nations.” It seems improbable during his five years
term in the office. He may not even return to power in the next elections.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

On December 16, a group of seven insane human
beasts stormed the Army Public School
in the Peshawar city of Pakistan and murdered 141 students and
instructors. It is so ghastly and colossal a tragedy that defies description in
words. The students sitting in class rooms were easy prey for these terrorists.
These monsters are patently defiling the name of Islam that they want to impose
by force and don’t even shirk from spilling blood of the people.

The families of the innocent victims, the whole
nation and even the world at large are in a state of indescribable agony, anguish
and mourning. The torrents of tears
would continue flowing down the eyes of the parents no one know how long.
Hundreds of families have been devastated and there is no way that their pain
can be subsided. This appalling massacre of flowers of nation in such large
number is perhaps the first of its kind in the recent history.

While the nations and the world mourns this gruesome
carnage, the paramount question begs the answer: how to definitively and
conclusively forestall and prevent such terrorism and nab and exterminate the
heartless predators. If such mayhems continue to happen and give rude shocks to
this nation then mark my words we neither have an ensured future nor an
honorable and peaceful existence.

Have we not to cleanse the territory of Pakistan
from the murderers and assassins killing the people at will and making the
society hostage to their convoluted and weird interpretation of religion? Have
we not to expunge the cancer of mushrooming violence and terrorism spawned by
these blood hounds in the name of making Pakistan an Islamic state? These mindless
and misguided jihadists are waging a religious crusade against their own people.

The gun-toting Taliban and their merciless cohorts
shedding human blood for nasty designs and bleak objectives, have to be
physically eliminated once and for all. Their supporters and henchmen in
Pakistan and across the border in Afghanistan too have to be wiped off for the
sake of peace that has remained elusive for several decades.

The state of Pakistan appeared on the map of
the world in 1947 and ever since has been under siege of the relentless sway of
the religious extremists who want to convert it into an orthodox country of
distant past/. How long we shall we witness these horrific mayhems
and our people being ambushed and rampaged by these callous thugs and spiteful gangsters?

Let us resolve and resolve resolutely that
from onwards the land of Pakistan would be made immune from the Frankenstein of fanaticism. Let us resolve to hunt
them down and finish them wherever they might be: hidden in mosques, religious
seminaries, in houses, in caves or under the protection of the mightiest.

The National Plan of Action announced by Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif in the all parties’ conference is the first major step
toward a long drawn comprehensive blitz against the terrorists, enemies of
public peace and the religious fascists.

But more needs to be done. The religious seminaries
are the breeding centers for producing indoctrinated suicide bombers and
Taliban fighters who bob and kill in order to be the dwellers of the paradise. All
religious schools and institutions should be either closed or taken over by the
government. These institutions should be integrated with the national education
system with strict watch on their activities and system of teaching. The
religious education can be made part of the prevalent education system and individuals
or a group of bearded zealots should not be allowed to run those institutions.

The Imams of the major mosques in Pakistan
should be appointed by the government like other cadres and paid like
government employees. Even if this is not possible then a strict accountability
and monitoring of their daily activities and education and the syllabi should
be enforced. The mosques should be opened during the prayer timings and closed
for the rest of the day.

The religious militant organizations spreading
sectarian hatred and resorting to the target killings should be banned and
their top notch leaders arrested and sentenced if they don’t desist from their
ruinous pursuits. Any agitation or revolt or civil disobedience, or underground
subversive activities, in the name of enforcing their respective myopic and
narrow agendas, should be forcibly suppressed. Let religious freedom be ensured
to the people across the board.

These recommendations are aimed at liberating
the state and the society from fanatic religious marauders that have hijacked
the society through fear, intimidation and heinous crimes such as bank robberies, extortion of money, forceful recruitment of
youth for suicide bombings and sectarian vendettas and blowing up girls’ schools.
The mission like cleansing of Swat Valley by the army in 2007-2009 can be
reenacted in the entire country.

The Taliban and their ferocious
ilk pose constant danger to the very state of Pakistan. Any attempts to change
their inflexible attitude and diabolic activities are not going to fructify.
Let the State deal with them with full might and sniff them out of the society.
That is the only course to restore peace, establish the writ of law in Pakistan
and to ensure a tolerant, egalitarian and stable society.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Casey Anthony in the murder charge of her
young daughter Caylee Marie was acquitted by the jury in July 2011. Police
officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of Michel Brown an 18 year old black man
in Ferguson Missouri last August got a no guilty verdict from the jury. The police officer Pantaleo causing
death by choke holding of a black male Eric Garner on July 17, 2014,in the Tompkinsville of Staten Island New York was set free by a panel of jury. Close on the
heels on November 22 again
a white police officer, shot and killed a 12 year old black boy,Tamir Rice in Cleveland Ohio.

In these and several similar cases, the
police officer used unnecessary and excessive force and killed the suspects in
full public view. These recent acquittals by the jury bring into sharp focus
how fragile and irrelevant the jury system in the USA has turned out to be. The
latest acquittals of police offers Darren Wilson and Pantaleo bear the
impression of a racial tinge making one ponder as to how such blatant acts in full
public view could be judged in favor of these two police officers.

The constitution of the United States of America deserves the highest
tribute as a beacon of guidance and a magnificent model for all the democracies
in the world. It would continue to serve as an invaluable embodiment of all
such hallmarks that constitute civil societies. However, the American justice
system is yet to reach a stage for veritable dispensation of justice to both
victims and the perpetrators.

The Sixth Amendment stipulates that, “ In all criminal prosecutions, the
accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial
jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed,
which district shall have been previously ascertained by law and to be informed
of the nature and cause of the accusation to be confronted with the witnesses
against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,
and to have the assistance of the counsel for his defense.”

An observation that I read in the New York Times so succinctly illustrates the
way the American Justice is aborted. It says, “The judge’s whim is all that
mattered in that courtroom. The law was basically irrelevant." (Marsha
Levick, the legal director of the Juvenile Law Center, on two Pennsylvania
judges who sent thousands of juveniles to detention centers for $2.6 million in
kickbacks).

If any branch of the civil society is enormously independent and truly powerful
in the United States, it is indeed the judiciary. Now I would not endorse the
kickbacks blemish but certainly there are dark shadows that come in the way of
handing out absolutely unalloyed and sparkling justice.

There is a laudable culture and tradition of strict accountability
running into the body politic of the United States. Yet rarely a member of
judiciary is held accountable for the miscarriage of justice willfully or
otherwise. The Judges in the courts are like sovereigns and their every
movement of hands and eyebrows, wrinkles of the face, the remarks uttered by
way of rebuke or appreciation have to be swallowed by those attending the
courts. The federal judges occasionally look like Hercules unchained.

Now the jury system is a legacy of the past
when community involvement was deemed necessary to arrive at a decision. The
jury consists of the people invited from various walks of life who would not
have enough inkling or even rudimentary knowledge of the legal intricacies of a
civil or criminal case. The jury is drawn from students, businessmen, employees
or individuals from other walks of life. By law these people have to act as
jury members.

For a variety of compulsions some of them seem to be in a hurry
to leave by joining others in a yes or no vote without going into the merit of
the case. Some remain detached from the proceedings for not being well versed
with the background of the case and accept the opinion of others.

The Jury members consult among themselves in a
closed room and are later briefed for a limited time by both the prosecution
and defense attorneys to formulate a unanimous verdict on which depends the
future of the accused person.

Notwithstanding the debate, the arguments,
the evidence, the merits of the cases, the jury members cannot comprehend the
essence of the case in a few hours or a day. They may declare the person guilty
despite being innocent, or innocent despite being guilty. The combined Yes or
No vote renders the years of debate and discussions by the contending counsels
as futile and wastage of time. In comparison to the prolonged court indulgence
and counsels’ hard work, the jury verdict arrived at in a short time makes the
whole difference.

Now race or ethnic background might be a very potent factor influencing
the verdict of a case either by the judge or the jury. The immigrant
communities usually involved in violation of traffic rules, overstaying, small
felonies like a dispute between the wife and husband or a theft that can be
summarily disposed off, are trapped in adjudication between the prosecution and
the defense attorneys for years together.

A predominately black or white jury might be
swayed by the racial or ethnic considerations thus tainting the legal process
that should be absolutely fair because upon that depends the life and honor of
a human being or the member of society. The prosecution and defense counsels
pull every trick in their kitty to influence the verdict of the jury in their
favor. Even if the jury is divided, a consensus is necessary to declare someone
guilty or not guilty. This is all a matter of persuasion by the counsels, good
luck or bad luck of the accused as to what kind of opinion he gets from the
jury.

The jury system is indeed like a spanner in the smooth sailing of the
justice system because it is superimposed and nullifies all the work done by
the attorneys for a long time, on both the sides. It also makes the judge
irrelevant because he is simply a dumb listener as at the end, it is jury’s one
word verdict that would be final.

Prior to the jury verdict, most of the case remains stuck up in the
court for final decision. The court proceedings tend to be time consuming and
costly that the poor litigant can seldom afford. The overriding spirit and
general attitude of the adjudicating authorities is punitive and not forgiving
even in minor cases where a simple warning would be enough.

In a surfeit of cases a plea bargain is the ultimate outcome. It means,
“don’t care or press for the merit of the case, get rid of the agony and accept
less punishment, in order to avoid more excruciating hassle and waste of time
and money”. If in many cases a plea bargain is the final outcome thanks to the
quid pro quo between the contesting lawyers.

The question is that if the final
outcome is the plea bargain then why a case is kept in limbo for years. In case
of choosing the option of fine to avoid the sentence, another torturous process
of rehabilitation starts, leaving a person in a mentally or physically mauled
state.

The professional ethics among the attorneys, lawyers and interpreters of
law, occasionally, seems to fall short of the required benchmarks and norms. As
one can look from a distance, there would be an effort by the defense lawyers
to prolong the cases as long as they can because thus they keep the inflow of
the fees and other charges intact. These are the aberrations of the justice
system that do not reflect any dereliction on the part of the law makers but
are at play during its practical implementation.

But one exceptionally distinctive feature of this system is the right to
appeal to the upper courts that give an option and a way-out for the aggrieved
persons to keep exploring and seeking the justice till the final appeal is
rejected or accepted. But appealing itself is a costly undertaking and might
entail heavy bills and more wastage of time of the appellants.

Now how to expunge such aberrations or lacunae? As a lay man I would recommend
doing away with the jury system. I plead this because with raw knowledge in
legal matters, with diverse racial and ethnic proclivities and with very little
time to understand the intricacies of the case, the jury may not come up with
the right decision.

This custom can be replaced with a panel of judges who as legal experts would
be in a strong position to hand out a wholesome and objective decision in much
shorter time. If there is more than one judge, the whims and predilection of
one single judge can be effectively checked.

It should also be worthwhile if in every criminal case, the DNA evidence is
made obligatory because that is the incontrovertible way to determine one’s
involvement or otherwise in the crime that one is accused of committing. Now
the DNA, a unique and amazing innovation of the modern age has proven that many
convicts of such heinous crime as rape and murder, who were put to death, were
actually innocents.

Unambiguously, it goes to establish that there have been
some very serious flaws in the U. S. justice system.
The judges come to the bar through elections and by votes of the community.
This system speaks for the grassroots democratic culture and is praiseworthy.
But the qualifications of the judges and legal arbiters some time are not up to
the mark to entitle them to hold these immensely crucial and delicate public
offices and also to perform in a highly professional manner.

In my view, the election of the judges should be replaced by a panel of experts
who should thoroughly scrutinize the professional credentials of the candidates
and recommend the most qualified or eligible among them. This is how a fully
competent person can be chosen who would not take sides in favor of certain
community members that were instrumental in his election victory.

Or else in case of judges being appointed through voting process, a
pre-screening exercise should be undertaken to approve their suitability to
contest for the post of a judge. This would ensure his professional competence
to rightly interpret law and dispense justice.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

The massacre of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Hazrat
Muhammad, and some of his family members and companions at Karbala is one of
the most grievous and heart wrenching incidents in the Islamic history spanning
over 15 centuries of the Muslim calendar.

Imam Hussain was killed with indescribable
and utmost savagery during the caliphate of Yazid bin Muawiyya of Ommyad
dynasty. His martyrdom along with his associates in the desert of Karbala
created an unbridgeable cleavage between the Sunnis and the Shias that
continues to this day.

The Shia entity started shaping up after the choice of Hazrat
Abu Bakr as the first successor caliph of the prophet. Hazrat Ali the cousin
brother of the prophet could not be chosen during the nomination or election of
the first three caliphs. The assassination of the third caliph Hazrat Usman led
to two devastating battles.

The first battle was between Hazrat Ali and Hazrat
Aisha the youngest wife of the prophet. The
Second was between Hazrat Ali and the governor of Syria Muawiyya son of Abu
Sufyan. Those battles were in fact between two hostile tribes over the arrest of the murderers of Hazrat Usman. Later the claim of caliphate between
Hazrat Ali and Muawiyya led to more devastating hostilities.

These battles remained inconclusive in favor of either
contender despite loss of the tens of thousands of Muslims on both sides. Therefore,
the choice of the caliph was decided through a ruse of arbitration that
Muawiyya won and thus technically he was proclaimed as the sole caliph of
Islam. Hazrat Ali and his followers did
not accept the arbitration and the rivalry continued unabated with two caliphs
ruling at the same time.

Hazrat Ali died in 661 AD at the hands of an assassin in
Kufa mosque. That event reinforced the position of Muawiyya and he could now
crush any opposition to his position of a caliph and that is what happened.
After Hazrat Ali’s death, the mantle of caliphate fell upon the shoulders of
his elder son Imam Hassan. Hazrat Hassan was elected by a unanimous vote in
Kufa.

But in a battle to be fought against Syrian army commanded
by Muawiyya, the Iraqis true to their treacherous character abandoned the Imam
and rather turned against him. Instead of fighting against Muawiyya, the Iraqis
broke into Imam’s camp and plundered his belongings. They even wanted to hand
Imam over to Muawiyya.

That seditious treatment of Iraqis had dejected the Imam
to such an extent that he agreed to enter into a covenant with Muawiyya. Through
that covenant Imam Hassan had agreed that Muawiyya can retain the caliphate but
after his death the mantle of caliphate would be passed on to Imam’s younger
brother Hazrat Imam Hussain. Imam Hassan thereafter, retired with his family to
Medina with a pension from Muawiyya. He died soon after through poisoning at
the prime age of 41.

Instead of abiding by the covenant, Muawiyya, towards the
fag end of his life, started maneuvering to get the nomination of his son Yazid as
his successor. In direct breach of his pledge with Imam Hassan, Muawiyya
nominated his son Yazid as his successor. In order to pursue this goal Muawiyya
used intimidation, coercing, cajoling and bribing to get oath of fealty for Yazid.
After the death of Muawiyya in 60 AH (680 AD), Yazid ascended to the throne. The
Omayyad dynasty ruled for 82 years.

Now this is all history. Let us analyze that decision of
Imam Hussain to proceed to Kufa with a mission to overthrow the well entrenched
dynasty of Ommyad, who were traditional rivals of the tribe of Banu Hashim.

In the light of the treaty signed between Imam Hassan and
Muawiyya, Imam Hussain was to become the next caliph. With the appointment of
Yazid, Imam Hussain moved to challenge the caliphate of Yazid which he thought
was usurpation of his right and violation of the covenant between Imam and
Amir Muawiyya. He was prompted by a load
of requests and countless communications from the Iraqis to come to Iraq and to
remove Yazid with their support.

The sagacious and experienced elders in Medina counseled
Imam Hussain to not be beguiled or influenced by the galore of invitations from
the Iraqis on the grounds that previously they had betrayed both his elder
brother and father. They reminded him that as a result of their betrayal,
Hazrat Ali lost the nearly won battle of Sufyan.

Thereafter, he was martyred in
Kufa mosque by a Kharji presumably planted by the Omayyad caliph. They also
reminded him about the treason of the Iraqis demonstrated with Imam Hassan
again when when he declared his caliphate and Muawiyya marched to invade Iraq.

Imam Hussain disregarded all such sane advice and traversed
to Kufa. By disregarding the advice of the prudent, sagacious and sincere individuals
some of whom were the companions of the prophet, Imam Hussain embarked upon a
course of defeat and destruction. It was only after reaching Karbala that
Hussain perceived the treachery of the Iraqis as there was neither the promised
army nor the common people to welcome him.

As a result the tragedy of Karbala took place in which Imam
Hussain and the male members of his family and followers perished. From the males only Imam Hussain’s one sick son Zainul
Abideen survived. Undoubtedly, the massacre of Karbala was the result of the
betrayal of Iraqis and Imam Hassan’s blind faith in the promises of the Iraq.

One should acknowledge that Imam Hussain’s challenge to Yazid
was not to revive Islam but to get his right of caliphate which he thought was legitimate
in consonance with Imam Hassan’s covenant and because of the usurpation of the
right of the close members of prophet’s family as the real successors for being
from his bloodline.

Imam Hussain should
have been convinced that if his elder brother and even illustrious father couldn't
stand before the might of the Ommyad, how he could defeat them with a small
force of the Kufans even if they had rallied behind him to fight.

It is equally debatable how Islam was revived or took a new
lease of life with the tragedy of Karbala. Primarily it was a conflict for
caliphate or precisely for power. The dynasties of both
Banu Ommyad and Abbasid remained in power for another 600 years (661-1258
AD). Both these hereditary dynasties were essentially Islamic.

These dynasties
expanded the sway of Islam around the world and during these dynasties not only
that Islam flourished but enormous input was fed into the advancement of
Islamic culture and way of life.

Nevertheless, with the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the Shia
sect was firmly established with its religious and spiritual center in Iran. Thus
the division of Islam into two rival sects was solidified. We can witness that
the Sunnis and Shias can never reconcile on their interpretation of Islam that
in fact had fractured the unity of Islam.

Even if Imam Hussain had come to power he could not rule in
peace. The peace would have remained jeopardized because of the opposition from
other contenders. The supporters of the first three caliphs whom Shias oppose
would have opposed the Shias regimes as the Shias have been opposing the Sunni
regimes.

We should not ignore the fact that under siege of the Syrian
army and absence of the Kufans support, Imam Hussain in sheer desperation offered
three conditions to call off his march to Kufa. These conditions were tantamount to virtual
surrender or subjugation and these were aimed at averting the eventual dreadful
end.

Yet the Syrian army commanders were aware of the zero bargaining
position of Imam Hussain. They wanted to take them to Ubaidullah bin Ziad who
was a heartless butcher of Kufa and a sworn enemy of Banu Hashim. Before the
arrival of Imam Hussain,

He brutally killed Imam Hussain’s cousin, Muslim bin
Aqeel and his little sons. Imam Hussain preferred to die in the battlefield
than tortured and killed by Ibne Ziad. Thus one of the noblest and righteous members
of Prophet Muhammad’s family perished in utter helplessness.

About Me

Columnist/Analyst/ Former Diplomat.
After obtaining my master’s degrees in Urdu and English literature from Punjab University, I started my career by teaching in a college. Thereafter, I had a stint in the diplomatic service of Pakistan. Finally I landed in journalism, an occupation that I am wedded to for over 20 years now.
I am a strong believer in a civil society and staunch opponent of exploitation in all forms.